  A Reformed
  Semi-Monthly
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  Vol.  65,  No. 
October  15,  1988


  Contents                                              October 15, ? 988

 Editorial  - Prof. David  /. Engelsma
 DECORATING THE MONUMENTS OF THE REFORMERS                                 27

 The Sermon,  - Prof. Robert D. Decker                                            ISSN 0362-4692
 COMMITTING THE TRUTH TO FAITHFUL MEN                                      29    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June,  July,
                                                                                 and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                 lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
 Convocation Speech  - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                     at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
 THE MUCH THAT IS REQUIRED                                                 32    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                 Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J.  En&ma
                                                                                 Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
 SEMINARY LETTER  - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                  34    Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don  Doezema
                                                                                 DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                 Rev. Ronald  Cammenga,  Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
 Contribution  - Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema                                         Arie  denHartog.  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
 SOME IMPRESSIONS FROM "DOWN UNDER"                                        39    Gritters,  Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
                                                                                 Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
                                                                                 Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
 All Around Us  - Rev. Gise  1. VanBaren                                         Slopsema,  Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev.  Cise
                                                                                 VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
.,-THERE ARE MOVIES  - AND MOVIES                                          41    EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                 The Standard Bearer
 Bible Study Guide  - Rev.  lason L. Kortering                                   4949  lvanrest
                                                                                 Crandville,  Michigan 49418
 JUDGES  - JEHOVAH DELIVERS HIS UNWORTHY PEOPLE (1)                        44    CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                 Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                 6597  - 40th Ave.
 REPORT OF  CLASSIS WEST  - Rev. Ronald H. Hanko                           46    Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
                                                                                 EDITORIAL POLICY
 NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                             47    Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
                                                                                 of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                 terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                 Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                 tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
 In This issue . . .                                                             and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
                                                                                 must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
                                                                                 the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                                                                 relative to the contents should be sent to the
   As suggested already by the cover, this issue includes a double               editorial office.
 feature. There is, first of all, a reference to the 16th century Reforma-       REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                 Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
 tion, the anniversary of which we celebrate later this month. The               articles in our magazine by other publications,
 three Latin phrases, well known and much appreciated by us, are                 orovided:  al that such  reorinted  articles are  reoro-
                                                                                 buced  in full;  b] that proper  acknowledgemen;  is
 referred to by Prof. Hanko herein as the "three great `solas' which             made; cl that a copy of the periodical in which
                                                                                 such reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
 God restored to the church through the Reformers." That's "Scripture            BUSINESS OFFICE          NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
 alone," "faith alone," and "grace alone." Prof. Engelsma, as you will           The Standard Bearer The Standard Bearer
                                                                                 Mr. H.  Vander   Wal     c/o Protestant Reformed
 see, adds a fourth: "Christ alone." And he declares further that "that          P.O. Box 6064               Church
 man truly celebrates the Reformation, and he alone, who joins the               Grand Rapids, MI         B. Van Herk
                                                                                   49516                  66 Fraser St.
 church that proclaims and defends the body of truth that the                    PH: (616) 243-2953       Wainuiomata, New Zealand
 Reformers fought and suffered for . . . ."                                      5UBSCRIPTlON  POLICY
                                                                                 jubscription  price, $12.00 per year. Unless a
   Therein also lies the point of connection between our bringing to             definite  request for discontinuance is received, it
                                                                                 s assumed that the subscriber wishes the  subscrip-
 mind in this issue the Reformation, on the one hand, and our featur-            .ion  to continue without the formality of a  re-
ing the Seminary, on the other. For, belonging to the "much" which,              Jewal  order, and he will be billed for renewal. If
                                                                                 ,ou  have a change of address, please notify the
 as we are reminded by Prof. Hanko, has been given to us by the                  3usiness Office as early as possible in order to
 King of the church is this: a rich heritage of the truth - the truth,           lvoid  the inconvenience of delayed delivery.  In-
                                                                                 elude your Zip Code.
that is, of the Word of God, as it was set forth in the Protestant Ref-          4DVERTISINC  POLICY
 ormation, developed further by our own spiritual fathers, and main-             The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
                                                                                 advertising  of any kind. Announcements of church
 tained in our Seminary, which for over 60 years has trained men for             md  school events, anniversaries, obituaries, and
 its proclamation. For that, we are humbly thankful.                             #ympathy  resolutions will be placed for a  $3.00
                                                                                 ee. These should be sent to the Business Office
   In this issue, therefore, Prof. Engelsma addresses the matter of              md  should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee.
                                                                                 leadline  for announcements is the 1st and the
proper celebration of the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation;             15th of the month, previous to publication on the
Prof. Decker shares with us the text of the sermon he preached at                15th  or the 1st respectively.
                                                                                 SOUND  VOLUMES
Prof. Engelsma's installation; and Prof. Hanko gives us the substance            ;he  Business Office will accept standing orders
of his message at this year's Seminary Convocation, held on                      or bound copies of the current volume; such
                                                                                 xders  are filled as soon as possible after  comple-
September 28 in Southwest Church. (To the third member of the                    ion of a volume. A limited number of past
                                                                                 folumes  may be obtained through the Business
Editorial Committee was left the easy part, the picture-taking. Hope             Iffice.
you enjoy those, too. The one on the cover is, of course, the Protes-            6mm  microfilm, 35mm microfilm and  105mm
                                                                                 nicrofiche,  and article copies are available
tant Reformed Seminary building, located in Grandville, Michigan.)               hrough  University Microfilms International.


26  / The Standard Bearer


                                      Decorating the
                                      Monuments of the
Editorial                             Reformers

' Celebration at the end of this      Roman Catholic Church will bless      radically differ with it dare not
month of the 16th century Ref-        the name of Martin Luther on Ref-     launch a frontal attack upon it,
ormation of the church will be a      ormation Day. Presbyterians and       but must pay lip-service to it.
dangerous activity for Protes-        Reformed who vehemently op-           Besides, it is much more effective
tants. The danger is that             pose Calvin's doctrine of eternal,    to blunt the Reformation's
churches and their members            sovereign election and reproba-       message among the people when
seize upon the occasion of the        tion will, nevertheless, extol the    one is draped in the mantle of an
anniversary of the onset of the       Genevan Reformer as a hero of         admirer of the Reformers than
Reformation to praise the Re-         the Protestant church. Protestants    when he appears as an out-and-
formers profusely, while repudiat-    who are disgusted with the Refor-     out adversary. The Pharisees
ing the truth of the gospel that      mation's insistence upon Scrip-       could spread among the people
the Reformers proclaimed. Men         ture alone, including the stress      the legalism that the prophets
and women who in fact are             upon doctrine and expository          abominated when they were
hostile to the Reformation-           preaching, and who are swept          building the tombs of the
doctrines decorate the monu-          away with the giddy excitement        prophets, as they never could do
ments of the Reformers, strewing      of the charismatic movement will      if they were perceived by the
the flowers of their praise upon      yet pay homage to the Reforma-        people as the children of them
the Reformers' graves.                tion.                                 who killed the prophets.
  Christ called this hypocrisy,         What accounts for this strange        Even the atheistic, Communist
and pronounced His woe over it.       behavior?                             regime of East Germany joined in
Referring specifically to the           Why do these Protestants not        the monument-decorating
scribes and Pharisees and their       spit on the graves of the Re-         charade in 1983 - the 500th
loud declarations of regard for       formers, or, at least, leave any      anniversary of the birth of Martin
the prophets of the Old Testa-        adorning of their tombstones to       Luther. Not only did the East
ment, Jesus said, "Woe unto you       those who believe what the Re-        German authorities refurbish the
. . . hypocrites! because ye build    formers taught, and love the Re-      notable Luther-sites, but they also
the tombs of the prophets, and        formers for the truth's sake, as      spoke highly of "Comrade
garnish the sepulchres of the         spiritual fathers?                    Luther," claiming him as a fore-
righteous" (Matthew 23:29).             Such towering, powerful             runner of socialism. Surely, the
  The evil is prevalent today.        figures are the Reformers, by the     activity of decorating the graves
Lutherans who are indifferent to      Providence of the God Who             of the righteous attained an ex-
the doctrine of justification by      governs history and its thought,      treme bordering on the farcical, in
faith alone and whose churches        that their enemies cannot ignore      this praise of Luther by the Com-
are busy selling out the doctrine     them and dare not revile them.        munists. A State for which God is
in high-level discussions with the    Such a glorious event is the          the enemy extolled the man for
                                      Reformation in the history of the     whom the God revealed in Jesus
                                      church that those in the Protes-      Christ was the only hope of men.
                                      tant churches, at any rate, who       A State committed to the notion


                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  / 27


that religion is the opiate of the       It is fitting that the churches      Sabbath; by our willing atten-
people honored the man for            keep up the remembrance of the          dance at the catechism classes
whom the Christian religion was       Reformation among us by a               this coming season; by our daily
the sinner's only peace. A State      special meeting at which the            reading of the Scriptures; and by
slavishly serving the idea that       history of the Reformation is re-       our effort to direct our behavior
true happiness for man must           counted and the doctrine ex-            according to Scripture's role? Do
come through revolution hailed        plored. Ministers do well, on the       we live by faith in Jesus Christ
as a hero the world's fiercest        last Lords Day in October, to           crucified and risen, and by faith
anti-revolutionary, whose denun-      preach a passage that sharply           in Him alone, i.e., by the grace of
ciation of revolution, "Against       teaches one or another of the           God only? Is the cross of Christ,
the Robbing and Murdering             outstanding Reformation truths,         i.e., His doing and dying some
Hordes of Peasants," is much to       explicitly drawing attention to         2000  years ago, our only
strong even for most Christians.      the Reformation and our in-             righteousness with God the
   To a man, the Reformers re-        debtedness to it. The theologians       Judge, so that we have peace -
jected all honoring of themselves.    of the church have the duty, and        actually and experientially have
Zealous as they were for the          privilege, to be busy studying          peace? Is this Christ-received-by-
name of God (the motto of them        that fascinating history, as well as    faith-only the power of a new life
all was "To God Alone, the            the teachings of the Reformers,         for us, so that we are holy, in a
Glory"), the thought that men         for the benefit of the people of        corrupt world? Do we confess           '
might praise them was obnoxious       God. Our Christian schools and          these doctrines, regardless of the
to them. Luther expressed dis-        our homes should avail them-            cost personally? Do we contend
pleasure at his followers' naming     selves of the annual anniversary        for them, when they are contra-
their church after him. Calvin        of the Reformation to instruct the      dicted, or corrupted? And is this
was buried without any monu-          next generation as to the great         because we love the truth? Men
ment at all, so that in a few         things God did for us in that           and women (and their covenant
months no one could know              mighty movement. High school            children) who can answer yes to
where his remains awaited the         students can be encouraged to           these questions are no hypocrites
resurrection. There would be no       read Roland H. Bainton's Here I         when they commemorate Refor-
decorating of his grave!              Stand: A Life of Martin Luther;         mation Day on October 31.
   Nevertheless, Protestants ought    we might put into the hands of            This has everything to do with
to honor the work of the Holy         the grade school children such          our church membership. We
Spirit through the Reformers, and     small books as Peter de Rover's         honor the Reformation by sup-
the Reformation as the greatest       Champion of Geneva: A Sketch of         porting the preaching of its
deliverance of His church by our      John Calvin for Young People, or        gospel in a congregation and a
Head since the days of the            Thea B. Van Halsema's Glorious          denomination that are faithful to
apostles. By it, "Zion in her low     Heretic: The Story of Guido de          the Reformation doctrines. We
estate/Was bro't from bondage         Bres (author of our Belgic Confes-      ourselves receive the truth
by the Lord," as we sing in a ver-    sion).                                  restored by the Reformation by
sification of Psalm 126. Of those       But none of these activities,         sound preaching of this truth
who enjoy the liberty that re-        commendable as they all are, is a       every Lords Day. We confess
sulted from the Reformation -         substitute for the Reformed man         "Scripture alone"; "faith alone";
true Protestants, it ought to be      or woman's hearing, believing,          "grace alone"; and "Christ alone"
the case, as The Psalter con-         confessing, and living the Refor-       - not individually, but with the
tinues, that "in ecstasy we sang      mation doctrines, week-in and           church to which we belong. That
for joy/By grace and wondrous         week-out.                               man truly celebrates the Refor-
love restored."                         Will our celebration of the           mation, and he alone, who joins
   This is done by embracing the      Reformation be genuine, or will         the church that proclaims and
truth - the doctrines - given         it be a mere decorating of the          defends the body of truth that
back to the church by the Refor-      Reformers' monuments?                   the Reformers fought and suf-
mation, with believing hearts and       Do we regard Holy Scripture,          fered for; maintains his member-
minds, and by confessing these        in its entirety, as the inspired,       ship in her; and is a lively
doctrines with the mouth. The         and therefore inerrant, Word of         member of her.
church honors her prophets by         God? Is our confession of the sole
receiving the prophets' message!      authority of Scripture as Gods
                                      Word proved by our diligent at-
                                      tendance at its preaching every


28  / The Standard Bearer


   As for the church, she                 Confessions. She herself submits        only cause of the salvation of
celebrates the Reformation, not           to the authority of Scripture, in       elect sinners.
by mouthing empty praise of that          order then to teach it to her             This is the church, this is the
work of our Lord in history once          spiritual children, insisting on it,    people, who are the living monu-
a year, but by being the pillar           if need be, to rebellious children,     ment of the Reformers, and of
and ground of the truth that has          by her discipline. In season and        the prophets whose message the
come down to her from the                 out of season, she proclaims the        Reformers echoed.
Reformation - the Reformed                good news of that Scripture -             Over them, Jesus pronounces
Faith set forth in the Reformed           the grace of God in Jesus as the        His blessing. Cl                      -DJE





                                          Committing the Truth to
 The  S e r m o n
Prof. Robert D. Decker                    Faithful Men

   "And the things that thou hast         deeply humble. The task is enor-        must continue. In this way, by
heard of me among many wit-               mous; the responsibility                means of the preaching of the
nesses, the same commit thou to           awesome. But with God all things        Word, the Son of God gathers,
faithful men, who shall be able to        are possible. By His grace the          defends, and preserves the
teach others also." II Timothy 2:2        work can and shall be done. And         church. God is pleased to save
   God has done great things for          God's will be the glory.                His church by means of faithful
us! He has given us another pro-            This text contains an obviously       men who are able to teach
fessor. Our new professor is a            personal word of the apostle Paul       others. It is essential, therefore,
gifted man, a man committed               to Timothy, his spiritual son. I        that the truth be committed to
with all his heart to the Re-             am not Paul and Rev. Engelsma           these men. The question is, to
formed faith. This means that our         is not my son. But as part of the       whom must the truth be com-
seminary can not only continue,           inspired Word of God the text           mitted? The text answers, "faith-
but also progress and grow.               certainly expresses the calling         ful men who shall be able to
   What a blessing this is. In these      and work of a Professor of              teach others also." These are
days when the foundations are             Theology and thus too the place         faithful men. They are men full
being shaken and when many                of the Seminary within our              of faith. They are men who are
cardinal truths of the Reformed           churches.                               therefore trustworthy or reliable,
faith are denied, God has given             The apostle Paul is nearing the       men upon whom the churches
us a man who believes the in-             end of his life and is concerned        can depend to do the work of the
spired, infallible Bible, a man           that his spiritual son, Timothy, a      ministry.
well qualified to teach and de-           young minister, be strong in the          Certain essential spiritual gifts
fend the truth of Scripture. For          grace of Christ Jesus. Timothy          characterize a faithful man, gifts
this we ought to be profoundly            must remember what he had               from God apart from which a
thankful to our faithful God and          been taught, the truth of the           man cannot be considered faith-
                                          gospel. And Timothy must com-           ful. The first of these spiritual
                                          mit that truth to faithful men          gifts is spirituality or genuine
                                          who shall be able to teach others.      piety. A faithful man is a child of
                                          These faithful men are future           God. It is true that there are
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical    ministers of the gospel. All of this    hypocrites in the ministry. God
Theology in the Protestant Reformed       is highly necessary. The ministry       even uses false prophets like
Seminary.

                                                                                                      The Standard Bearer  / 29


 Balaam to bless His people. Two        This is why we can find in Him             A faithful man able to teach
 things may be said about this.         mercy and grace to help us in           others needs the ability to speak
 These never last. Sooner or later      our need. The servants of Christ        publicly. His chief task is to
 they are exposed and leave or          must know God's people, their           preach the Word twice per Lord's
 are put out of the ministry by         needs, struggles, joys, afflictions,    Day and to teach the children
 discipline. And these are not the      sorrows. And faithful men must          and youth of the church. He
 rule but the exceptions. Ministers     feel with God's people and under-       must have this God-given ability.
 must be spiritual, pious, godly        stand them so as to bring God's         No professor can impart these
 men. They must be men saved            Word to their needs.                    gifts to a man. Faithful men are
 by grace through faith in Jesus          Faithful men are men of               gifts of God who also enables
 Christ, God's gift. They must be       spiritual courage or boldness. The      them to teach others. Timothy is
men in whose hearts burns the           apostle Paul admonished the             exhorted to commit to these men
love of God in Christ. They must        church at Ephesus to pray for all       the truth. And this is our calling
be men who love God and God's           the saints and for me that 1 may        in the Seminary.
people, His church and cause.           have boldness to make known                What must be committed to
They must be men who have, as           the mystery of the gospel. That         these faithful men? The text
one writer put it, "a fascination       must be the prayer of every             answers: "the things thou hast
with the Bible" and who live ex-        faithful minister. A minister           heard of me." The context makes
emplary Christian lives.                needs boldness to preach and            clear what these things are. In
    Humility characterizes a faith-     teach the truth of the gospel           chapter 1:13 the apostle speaks
ful man. There is no room for           which declares that we are sin-         of "the form of sound words"
pride in the ministry. Pride, the       ners who can do no good at all          which Timothy had heard of him
Bible says, goes before destruc-        and that our salvation is all by        and which he must hold  fast.
tion. This is true in the ministry.     the grace of the sovereign God in       Sound words means literally pure
Self-seeking pride, selfishness, the    Christ to His own glory. That           or uncorrupt words. In chapter
seeking of the praise of men -          takes courage, boldness. Ministers      2:14 Timothy is exhorted to put
all these are abominable sins           stand in the front line of the bat-     the church in remembrance of
among God's people. But they            tle of faith. This is why Paul tells    "these things." The reference is
are especially abominable sins          Timothy to endure hardness as a         to the teaching of the immediate-
among ministers. Faithful men           good soldier of Jesus Christ.           ly preceding: "if we be dead with
are humble men. Like the                 Further, these faithful men            Christ we shall also live with
apostles, they are slaves of God        must be able to teach others also.      Him . . . ." In chapter 2:23 these
and of His church. They know            They must have this ability, and        things, these pure, uncorrupt
the truth of what the practical         this too comes from God. A faith-       words, are presented as the op-
theologian J.J. Van Oosterzee           Ful man must be able to read and        posite of "foolish and unlearned
said: "The flock does not exist for     understand the Holy Scriptures.         questions which cause strife."
the pastor, but the pastor for the      He must be able think and               These latter Timothy must avoid.
flock." They give their lives in        organize his thoughts clearly and         What Timothy heard from the
the service of God's church! Thus       !ogically. Thus the minjster needs      apostle were the sound words,
faithful men are men of prayer.         1 broad background in the liberal       the pure doctrine of Holy Scrip-
They know that all that they            irts and a good knowledge of the        ture. The apostle taught him
have and are are of God. They           original languages of the Bible.        Christ from the Scriptures. He in-
know that they cannot preach            Ye must know the history of the         structed him in the faith.
one sermon or perform one               church and he must know the             Timothy heard the truth of the
pastoral task apart from God's          doctrines  of Scripture as set forth    inspired, infallible Scriptures. And
grace. They pray without ceasing        n the creeds. All this and more         Timothy heard that truth not
for God's grace and Spirit to           le must make his own. He must           merely with his ears, but he
enable them to be faithful men          lave the ability to explain God's       heard it in the sense that he
able to teach others.                   Uord to God's people. This takes        learned the truth. Timothy had a
   Faithful men are men of sym-         lours and hours of hard work. It        spiritual knowledge of the truth.
pathetic understanding. Jesus,          :akes as well much prayer to            It was the knowledge of a true
our great, merciful High Priest is      nake a good sermon. Hence a             and living faith.
touched with the feeling of our         `aithful man needs the self-              And Timothy learned these
infirmities and tempted in all          discipline  to invest the time and      things among many witnesses.
points as we, yet without sin.          energy in prayerful study of the        These witnesses were literally
                                        Nord.                                   martyrs. In other words these


30  / The Standard Bearer


witnesses were not mere spec-          reprobate are hardened and con-         Scriptures are the sole authority
tators or observers, but martyrs       demned in the way of their own          for the faith and life of the child
who testified to the truth of what     rebellion and sin; the absolute         of God. The second and closely
Paul taught Timothy. And these         antithesis, God and the devil,          related principle of the Reforma-
martyrs were many: Timothy's           faith and unbelief, Christ and          tion is the perspicuity of Scrip-
grandmother, Lois; his mother,         Belial, the church and the world,       ture. Scripture is not an enigma.
Eunice; and Paul's co-workers.         good and evil. What a rich,             It is not hidden, obscure, or able
And, above all, there was the          wonderful heritage God has              to be understood only by highly
witness of the Holy Spirit of          given us. Now is no time for            educated experts. Scripture is un-
Christ who testified in Timothy's      compromise, either in doctrine or       complicated, simple, clear, and
heart and worked faith in him.         in practice. Now is no time for         easy to understand. When one
From a child Timothy knew the          bickering over non-essentials.          stands before the Scriptures he
Holy Scriptures which were able        That sacred trust of truth needs        either wrests them to his own
to make him wise unto salvation.       to be taught others in the              destruction in unbelief or he
  This is what we too have             churches. Without shame that            believes them with childlike faith.
heard, learned among many              truth must be proclaimed                And the latter is by grace alone.
witnesses. And we have much            wherever God in His good                  Of course students and pro-
more than Timothy. For God has         pleasure sends us.                      fessors may question, debate,
given us the entire Canon of the         How shall this be done? The           discuss, and probe. They must
infallibly inspired Scriptures. We     text answers: by committing that        feel free to do this. But they are
have learned the truth of Holy         truth to faithful men who shall be      free to do this only within the
Scripture, and the Spirit witnesses    able to teach others also. To           bounds of Scripture as inter-
with our spirits that these things     commit means to place down,             preted by the confessions! What
are true.                              deposit, entrust to one's charge.       is committed to the students must
  We have heard these things           Notice, this is an imperative. It is    be learned; but that learning is
among many witnesses as well.          not something we may or may             under the ministry of the Word,
There is the testimony of the          not do. We have no choice in            and it must be mixed with faith.
martyrs whose souls are under          this matter. Gods command is            That precious truth, the Re-
the altar and who cry, "How            that we entrust, commit these           formed faith as given to our
long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost      things to faithful men!                 churches, must become the burn-
thou not judge and avenge our            This is the calling of the pro-       ing conviction of their hearts by
blood on them that dwell on the        fessor. It determines his method        the grace of the Holy Spirit.
earth?" There is the witness of        of teaching. What we have               When it becomes that, then they
the fathers of the church, the ear-    learned is a discernible body of        will be faithful men who are able
ly fathers, the Reformation            truth out of the Holy Scriptures        to teach others. And by this
fathers, the Dutch fathers. And        as interpreted by the Reformed          means Gods church will be
out of the witness came the            Confessions. This truth is not sub-     gathered, defended, preserved
creeds, especially the Three           ject to various interpretations or      unto eternal life out of the whole
Forms of Unity, the Westminster        applications. It is not merely to       human race.
Creeds, and others. And make no        be discussed or debated. It is not        This is God's Word tonight to
mistake about it, we have the          up for grabs. Much less is that         all of us. All of this takes place
witness of our Protestant Re-          truth to be contradicted, denied,       within the context of the
formed fathers. Through these          or undermined in any way. The           churches. The Seminary is no
we have been given by God rich,        truth must be faithfully entrusted      ivory tower; it is not merely an
profound, brilliant, even unique       to the charge of faithful men who       academic institution of higher
insights into the truth. Think of      shall thus be able to teach others.     learning. The Seminary exists for
it! Gods unilateral, unconditional       This is done only one way: by         the sake of the churches and to
covenant of friendship and fel-        expounding the Scriptures as in-        prepare its future ministers and
lowship with the elect in Christ       terpreted by the Confessions over       missionaries.
Jesus; Gods sovereign, saving          against all heresies, especially          The Seminary occupies a place
grace by which alone the elect         those errors of the present day.        which is indispensable for the life
are saved in Christ; preaching as        This is utterly crucial. At least     and well-being of the churches. It
the means by which the voice of        two fundamental principles of the       is a sacred trust God has given, a
Christ is heard and by which           Reformation are involved. The           holy calling, a task utterly im-
power the elect are brought to         first is the formal principle, sola     possible! None is worthy to com-
repentance and faith while the         Scriptura.  The inspired, inerrant      mit the truth to faithful men.


                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  I31


 None is worthy to receive it and                enable our new professor and the        The above is the unabridged
 to teach it to others. And none is              faculty faithfully to commit the      text of the sermon preached by
 capable of doing either!                        truth to these men. In this way       Prof. Decker at the installation of
    Beloved in the Lord! The                     God gives us grace to do the          Rev. David J. Engelsma into the
 seminary needs your love, con-                  work for the gathering of His         office of Professor of Theology.
 cern, support, and above all your               church, the coming of His             The sermon was preached in the
 fervent and constant prayers.                   kingdom, and the glory of His         Protestant Reformed Church of
 Pray that God will give us                      ever blessed Name! Amen.              South Holland, Illinois on August
 faithful men who are able to                                                          31, 1988. 0
 teach others. Pray that God will
                                            -





 Convocation                                The Much That Is
 Speech
Prof. Herman C. Hanko                       Required

    "For unto whomsoever much                    night. And because of the unex-       punishment awaits them.
is given, of him shall be much re-               pected nature of His coming, it is       However, these unfaithful ser-
quired: and to whom men have                     incumbent upon His people that        vants are again distinguished
committed much, of him they                      they live in a state of constant      among themselves. The principle
will ask the more" (Luke 12:48b).                watchfulness and prayer.              of distinction is the amount of
Esteemed colleagues, students,                     To impress this calling upon        knowledge of the lords will
members of the School Commit-                    the minds of His people, the Lord     which they possess; and on the
tee, and fellow saints:                          tells a parable. A man who is         basis of that amount of
   As I was pondering these                      lord of vast estates departs from     knowledge which they possess,
words of our Lord in preparation                 his household for a time. Prior to    they are also punished: "And that
for convocation, what Jesus says                 his departure he commits his          servant, which knew his lords
here began to frighten me. After                 household and the responsibility      will, and prepared not himself,
all, we have received of the Lord                for its care to his servants. The     neither did according to his will,
so very much; and Jesus em-                      time of his return, however, is       shall be beaten with many
phasizes that for that very reason               not known, and this very uncer-       stripes. But he that knew not,
much is also required. That is a                 tainty must serve as incentive to     and did commit things worthy of
sobering thought as we look over                 the servants to be faithful over      stripes, shall be beaten with few
our own place in Christ's church.                that which the lord has entrusted     stripes" (vss. 47, 48a).
   As is clear from the context,                 to them.                                In connection with this
the Lord is speaking of His sec-                   But there are two kinds of ser-     parable, Jesus lays down the
ond coming at the end of time.                   vants. Some are faithful, and of      fundamental principle of the
He is, as so often, stressing that               them the Lord says, "Blessed are      kingdom of heaven which we
His coming will be unexpected:                   those servants, whom the lord         consider tonight: "For unto
He will come as a thief in the                   when he cometh shall find watch-      whomsoever much is given, of
                                                 ing" (vs. 37). But some become        him shall be much required: and
                                                 convinced that the lord delays        to whom men have committed
                                                 his coming and begin to beat the      much, of him they will ask the
                                                 menservants and maidservants,         more."
Prof: Hanko is professor of Church               to eat and drink, and to be
History and New Testament in the Protes-         drunken (vs. 45). A terrible
tant Reformed Seminary.

32  I The Standard Bearer


  It is evident that the Lord is          hosts of His citizens from victory      comparison with the church of
speaking of His kingdom. In               to victory as the mighty Captain        Christ which is now on earth.
verses 31, 32 he says, "But rather        of their salvation.                     Yet, He has given us this place.
seek ye the kingdom of God; and             But that kingdom, though it is        And in that place the Lord has
all these things shall be added           to be finally established in all its    given us "much." The "much"
unto you. Fear not, little flock;         perfection in heaven, is mani-          which He has given to us is very
for it is your Father's good              fested on earth. And, while the         great. It is, in fact, so great that
pleasure to give you the                  manifestation of that kingdom of        this "much' is most probably
kingdom."                                 earth embraces the whole life           "more" than He has given to any
  This kingdom is the heavenly            and calling of Gods people as           other church in the world. And
kingdom which shall be realized           citizens of that kingdom, it is par-    that is what makes this text so
in the new heavens and the new            ticularly manifested in the             frightening.
earth when Christ comes again. It         church. The church and the              * * * * * * * * * *
is well to emphasize this in our          kingdom are not the same. The             What is that "much" which the
day, for one of the great errors          church is the body of Christ; the       King of the church has given us?
of today's church is to make this         kingdom is the sphere of Christ's         First of all, in general, it is a
kingdom of Christ an earthly              absolute rule of grace.                 great heritage of the truth. This
kingdom realized here in this               Yet, the two are inseparably          heritage of the truth goes back to
present history. But it is em-            related to each other. Through          the very beginning of the New
phatically heavenly because it is         the church the gospel of the            Testament era and includes in it
the kingdom of God, perfectly             kingdom is preached. And that           the great creeds of the ancient
established when the full purpose         gospel of the kingdom is the            church. It includes the glorious
of Gods counsel is reached. It is         power by which the citizens of          truths of sovereign grace as set
a kingdom, therefore, of righ-            the kingdom are called out of the       forth by Augustine, the bishop of
teousness, established in the             kingdom of darkness into citizen-       Hippo in the middle of the fifth
blood of the cross and through            ship in the kingdom of God's            century.
the power of the resurrection and         dear Son. By that gospel the              But even more than that, it in-
ascension of Christ at God's right        citizens of the kingdom are             cludes the great truths of the
hand.                                     brought into humble worship and         Protestant Reformation: the three
  Over that kingdom Christ rules          service of their great King.            great "solas" which God restored
as sovereign. His sovereignty is          Through the power of that gospel        to the church through the Re-
far greater than the sovereignty          the kingdom is preserved and            formers. "Sola Scriptura." Scrip-
of any earthly monarch no mat-            protected against all the forces of     ture alone is the one authority
ter how total and complete that           the kingdom of darkness. And,           for all of faith and all of life.
monarch's rule may be. Christ             constantly strengthened by the          "Sola Fidei." It is by faith alone
not only determines who are to            preaching, the citizens of the          that we are justified, for our
be the citizens of that kingdom,          kingdom go forth in the service         righteousness is only in the
but He makes His own citizens             of Christ to do all the work of the     perfect work of Christ on the
by the power of His shed blood.           kingdom.                                cross, and never in our works.
He rules over their lives totally           But the King is gone from the         "Sola gratia." It is by grace,
and completely, assigning to each         earth. He has traveled into             sovereign, unmerited, particular
his place in that kingdom and             heaven. And while He is absent          grace, that we are saved. And
giving to each his calling. Christ        He entrusts those who remain            that great heritage is the price-
is so sovereign that all that hap-        upon the earth with the work of         less heritage for which countless
pens within that kingdom comes            the kingdom and church.                 saints have bled and died and
to pass by His will. And outside            Within that church and                which has been the treasure of
the borders of that kingdom even          kingdom the Lord has given a            the church since that time till to-
the wicked who war against His            place to us as Protestant Re-           day.
kingdom are, under His                    formed Churches. It is not a large        Yet, at the same time, that
sovereignty, pawns in His hand            place, but it is an important one.      heritage of the truth includes that
to serve the good of His.                 It is a small place, not only in        which is uniquely Protestant Re-
kingdom. Christ rules over it,            comparison with that great              formed. This too must be men-
protects it, fights its battles, gains    multitude of redeemed who are           tioned, for it is that heritage en-
the victory for it, and leads the         already in heaven in the com-           trusted to us through Gods work
                                          pany of just men made perfect,          in our spiritual fathers by whose
                                          but it is even a small place in         labors our own denomination

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  / 33


THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL
OF THE
PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCHES

4949 lvanrest Avenue                         Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rector - Departments of Practical Theology and New Testament
Grandville, Michigan 49418                                  Prof. Davild J. Engelsma - Departments of Dogmatics and Old Testament
                                                       Prof. Herman C. Hanko  - Departments of Church History and New Testament
Phone: (616)  531-1490                                    Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema - Departments of Dogmaticsand Old Testament


                                                                                                 October  1.5,1988
       Beloved people of God,

          A new school year has begun up on Seminary Hill, and the faculty and students greet you in
       the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

          Some changes have taken place in the Seminary. Perhaps the most important is that God
       has called Rev. D. Engelsma to our Seminary faculty this past summer. He was installed at a
       special worship service held in South Holland on August 31. Participating in the installation
       ceremony were the Revs. Lubbers,  VanBaren,  and  VanOverloop, while Prof. Decker preached
       the sermon. A collection was taken at the service for the Library Fund of Seminary which
       amounted to $595.42, We are thank  ful that the Lord so graciously continues to care for our
       Seminary and that He has provided again a professor for the school.

          During this school year Prof. Engelsma is at Calvin Seminary working towards a Th.M.
       degree in the field of Dogmatics. This is in preparation for his teaching duties. In the mean-
       time, Prof. Hoeksema is spending a year in  But-me,  Tasmania, ministering to the needs of
       God's people there and will join the faculty next year. Profs. Decker and Hanko will be
       handling the teaching responsibilities during the current school year.

          Some changes in personnel are also a part of the new school year. Mrs.  Jane  Kuiper will
      soon be laying aside her work as Secretary to spend more time with her family. We take this
      opportunity publicly to thank her for her work in Seminary and her always pleasant and
      cheerful assistance to the professors and students in so many details of Seminary work. For
      this year, Mrs. Eileen Terpstra will be taking over the office work on a part-time basis. We
      welcome Mrs. Terpstra into the Seminary family,

          Mr.  Don Doezema  has also  set up a permanent  office of sorts in the faculty room of the
      Seminary. He will do the work of Registrar, assist Prof. Decker in the duties of rector, take
      over some of the library responsibilities, and give his own expertise in keeping things running
      smoothly in our school. We are thankful to have his efficient help.

          The students in school this year are the following: Mitch Dick, who is in his second year of
      Seminary studies; Len Holstege, in his final year of Pre-Seminary studies; Ken Elzinga and
      Doug Kuiper., in their second year of Pre-Seminary studies. Two other students are also
      working in Pre-Seminary studies, but in different parts of the country where they cannot take
      part of their subjects in the Seminary.

          All this underscores once again the need for students. We commend this need to our
      churches and urge you to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers in His
      vineyard. Pray for us, brethren; we feel deeply our inadequacy and our dependence upon
      God's continued help, May your prayers join with ours for God's blessing upon our school.

                                                                                             Fraternally in Christ,
                                                                                            Prof. Herman Hanko
                                                                                                    For the faculty


was formed. It is a heritage not       that Seminary our churches have         the "much" which God has given,
separate from that which comes         not lacked faithful men who have        we make ourselves unworthy of
down to us from bygone ages; it        gone forth into the church to           keeping it, and the "much" that
is a heritage of the great applica-    feed the sheep of Christ.               we receive can and will be taken
tion of the truths of sovereign          All these gifts have been given       away. One does not give a
grace to two particular aspects of     by grace. In so many ways we            priceless diamond to a two-year-
our confession and calling. It is      have been and are unworthy of           old child, for the child does not
the heritage of the truth of           them. He has not given us this          and cannot appreciate its worth.
sovereign grace .as it applies to      great "much" because we have            One does not entrust the keeping
the "doctrine of God's everlasting     done anything to deserve it.            of a costly piece of fragile crystal
covenant of grace which He             Quite the opposite is true. It is       to a small boy with a muddy face
establishes with His people            humbling and frightening to             who can hold nothing safely in
through Christ; and it is the truth    think of how we have forfeited          his hands except perhaps a foot-
of sovereign grace as it applies to    all claim to such a great favor.        ball. A church can make herself
the truth of the antithesis - that     But freely and graciously, with         unworthy of being the benefi-
great principle which determines       sovereign love, the great King          ciary of a great treasure. God
all the walk and calling of God's      has bestowed upon us this               sent in judgment upon the nation
people here in the world.              marvelous "much."                       of Israel a famine of the Word
  Based on that heritage, so           * *  * * * * * * * *                    because Israel no longer con-
distinctively ours, God has given                                              sidered it the priceless treasure it
us much more. He has given us            Yet, to whomsoever much is            was. Thankful appreciation is
pulpits occupied by ministers          given, from him much shall be           always the key to faithfulness.
who faithfully preach and teach        required.                               And such thankful appreciation is
that heritage and who devote             What is the "much" that is re-        humble recognition that what we
their lives and strength to the        quired?                                 receive is given in grace.
work of the church. He has given         It ought, I think, to be obvious        And so, because this is
us faithful men who hold the of-       first of all that, most basically,      Seminary convocation, we can
fices of elders and deacons. It        what the King requires of those         apply this very directly.
ought to give us pause that            to whom much is given is faith-           In the constant work of the
throughout the years of existence      fulness. If the great "much"            Seminary, "much" is required of
we have not lacked men of God,         which we have been given is             our people. It is required of our
men of integrity, men of courage       especially that one heritage of         people that they hold fast to that
and zeal, who have been                the faith, then faithfulness is         truth which is and must be
qualified by the King of the           above all what is required. And         taught in the Seminary if we are
church to do this work upon            faithfulness, in turn, requires that    to be faithful together. The  d
which the welfare of the church        we hold fast to what we have            Seminary cannot remain faithful
depends. He has given us cove-         received, know it, understand it,       except in constant connection
nant homes and covenant schools        love and cherish it, commit it          with the people of God in the
staffed by dedicated teachers          faithfully to generations yet to        churches. The Seminary is not
who devote their lives to the          come, and take that treasure and        "ours," or the Synod's; it is your
education of the seed of the           develop it further. Yes, also this      Seminary. It belongs to God's
covenant. And last, but not least,     latter. For the riches of the           people. It is their school, their in-
he has given us, now for over          knowledge of God in Christ              stitution. It is the place which
sixty years, our own Seminary          which are our salvation are             God has given to them to train
where young men have been              glorious treasures of the Scrip-        young men.
trained for the ministry in our        tures which are an inexhaustible          It is often said, "As goes the
churches. From that Seminary           mine of the truth.                      Seminary, so go the churches."
have come the men who have               But to be faithful in that way is     And this is true, for history
preached the gospel of the             also to have a deep appreciation        teaches us that heresy comes into
kingdom both in the established        for that heritage. We always, as        the churches most often through
church and in the mission fields       is true of the church of all ages,      the doors of the Seminary. But
where the Lord has directed us.        are in peril of forgetting it. Or,      the opposite is also true. It is a
That Seminary has stood through        which is worse, we are in danger        great evil, in theological educa-
good times and bad, working            of becoming so accustomed to it         tion in our country, that the                  -
without interruption in the tasks      that we begin to take it for
of the church. And because of          granted and fail to realize its
                                       worth. It we do not appreciate

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  /  35


Life at the Seminary


                                                       Prof. Hanko
                                                       ponders a
                                                       question
                                                       from . . . .





                                                                   .  .  . Seminarian    ,_     ,;
                                                                   Mitch Dick                         /     ,*ri"\a~





                                     Pre-sems: Ken Elzinga, Len Holstege, Doug Kuiper





                              Chapel Day


 36  / The Standard Bearer


            Prof. Engelsma drops by for a brief respite after a
            rigorous day of classes at Calvin seminary.



The seminary has also become home for our Standard Bearer. The three members of the Editorial Com-
mittee have (or will soon have) their offices there; the R.F.P.A. Board holds its monthly meetings there; and
the "workroom" is used for preparing each issue for mailing. Below you see Don Doezema affixing the ad-
dress labels, EiIeen Terpstra sorting the zip codes, and John Veldman preparing the packages for 2nd class
mailing.





                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  /  37


Seminary is separated from the           come, in these days before our           have received little, little is re-
life of the churches. This spells its    King returns, those who will             quired. From those who received
destruction. The Seminary must           labor in the ministry of the             much, much is required.
remain your school. To you it is         Word. To you especially is en-              It is this fear of punishment
accountable; you must expect             trusted this great treasure of the       upon unfaithful servants and this
from it and see to it that from its      heritage of the truth. To you is         longing hope of blessedness
halls come men of God whose              committed that glorious body of          promised by the Lord which
feet are beautiful upon the moun-        doctrine which countless saints          serves as the incentive to pursue
tains to preach the gospel of            before you have confessed. And           our work with diligence and to
peace.                                   belonging to the "much" that is          give heed humbly to the "much"
   The "much" that is required of        required is surely this, that you        required.
you includes also the obligation         (and I) be faithful to it, that we         The reward is the reward of
to send to Seminary your .sons.          study it and learn it, that we           grace. Our Belgic Confession, in
This is the "much" that is re-           commit it to faithful men who            beautifu'l words, describes this
quired of congregations and              will be able to teach others, and        reward of grace as the crown
God's people in their covenant           that we develop it in order that         with which God crowns His own
homes.                                   the faith of generations yet un-         gifts. It is all of grace. The calling
   We all know that God calls to         born may stand in that tradition         is of grace, for it is a privilege to
the ministry and that, apart from        of the faith once for all delivered      labor in the service of the King.
that call, there is no man who           to the saints.                           The faithfulness required of
can labor in this glorious task.           And "much" is required of our          laborers is given of grace. The
But that truth does not negate           students. I am not speaking now          reward of blessedness is of grace.
the responsibility which Christ          especially of the much work -              If we could not believe that,
demands when He tells us that,           the reading, the studying, the           we would despair. Better it is
having given us much, He also            mastery of material, the writing         then to lock the doors of the
requires much.                           of papers, the producing of ac-          Seminary and board up the
  There is sacrifice involved. No        ceptable tests, etc. which keep          churches, for the "much" that the
congregation, if it is selfish and       you busy; although I hope and .          King requires is too much. It can
self-centered, likes to give up its      pray that our Seminary never             come from grace and grace
gifted and godly sons. No family,        becomes academically deficient.          alone.
if it knows anything of the travail      But I am speaking of the fact that         And that is why our work must
of the ministry, likes to see its        you too are the heirs of this great      be performed in complete
sons in the cutting edge of the          heritage. You are here to be             dependence upon our King. We
conflict of faith. But it ispart of      prepared, not only intellectually        will not trust in men. We will not
that great "much" which the              but also spiritually, for the calling    put our confidence in princes.
King requires. It is required of         to bring the Word of the truth to        We will not hope in the arm of
you that you send us your sons.          the church and to the mission            flesh or in the promises of men.
  And that same "much" in-               fields of Christ. Indeed, much is        We will not rely upon chariots
cludes your constant prayers: the        required of you.                         and horses. That will be futile
prayers of pastors in the pulpits,       * * * * * * * * * *                      and vain. Our trust and hope is
the prayers of fathers at the din-                                                in our King. To Him we look for
ner table with their children, the         The contrast of the Lords              all we need. From His hand we
prayers of saints whose heart is         words is sharp: Wicked servants          expect all things. Relying upon
with the cause of Christ and His         and faithful servants. Wicked ser-       Him and confident of the unfail-
church. Without your prayers             vants shall be beaten. Faithful          ing faithfulness of His promises,
which carry the Seminary on              servants shall be blessed:               we commit ourselves and all our
wings to the throne of grace, our        "Blessed are those servants,             needs to His gracious and
work is impossible.                      whom the lord when he cometh             sovereign care. He is, the
  "Much" is required of pro-             shall find watching: verily I say        sovereign King. From Him comes
fessors. And to you tonight also I       unto you, that he shall gird             our all. Trusting in Him, all shall
bring this sharp word of your            himself, and make them to sit            be well. q
King. To you much has been               down to meat, and will come
given brethren; from you much            forth and serve them" (vs. 37).
is required. It is an awesome call-        But secondly, the contrast is
ing indeed which falls upon us,          between those who have re-
for from this institution will           ceived little and those who have
                                         received much. From those who

38  / The Standard Bearer


                                            Some Impressions from
 Contribution
Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema                     "Down Under"

Dear Readers of The Standard                The latter is the location of an       western end of the north coast.
Bearer:                                     Evangelical Presbyterian Church        On the 18th of August at 5:30 in
   Although I am on leave of                where Professor and Mrs. Hanko         the afternoon, one hour behind
absence as a regular Staff writer           visited during their brief stay in     schedule, we landed at the Wyn-
during the current volume-year,             Australia and where Prof. Hanko        yard-Burnie airport and had a
before I left home I promised               lectured and preached. A few           warm welcome from many of the
that I would write a few lines              hundred miles to the north is          folk from both Burnie and
from Tasmania during our year's             Rockhampton, the location of           Launceston. But let me finish the-
sojourn here. In this letter I will         another E.P.C. And another             geography lesson. About one
try to furnish you a few early im-          several hundred miles north, in        hundred miles to the east, and
pressions.                                  Cairns, the E.P.C. has a               slightly inland, is the city of
   The other day my wife and I              preaching station. Cairns is in the    Launceston. Another 60 miles
began listing things which are dif-         tropics and in the area of the         from Launceston is Winnaleah,
ferent here. And after we had               Great Barrier Reef. West of            where Pastor Philip Burley
each mentioned a few items, we              Brisbane and on the edge of the        serves. He is the only pastor in
ended by agreeing, "Everything              "outback" is Chinchilla, where         the Tasmania Presbytery. Mr.
is different!"                              there is another preaching sta-        Burley and his wife were in the
   First of all, of course, the place       tion, or branch church. Brisbane       welcome party at Wynyard-
is different. We are living a half          and Chinchilla are the charge of       Burnie airport when we arrived.
world away from you in the U.S.             Pastor Chris Coleborn. Rock-           Tasmania is as far south as you
and in the far southern portion of          hampton and Cairns are the             can get in Australia. If you stand
the Southern Hemisphere. If                 charge of Pastor R.A. (Tony) Fisk.     on the southern end of the is-
some of our teachers wish to give           These churches make up the             land, there is nothing but the
their pupils a rather practical             Queensland Presbytery (classis) of     Southern Ocean between you
geography lesson involving the              the E.P.C. We have been urgent-        and the South Pole!
whereabouts of our churches' ac-            ly invited to visit there sometime       So the geography is different!
tivities, they could get out the            during our sojourn in Australia,         This means, too, that the time
globe or a world map and have               something which we would very          is different. We crossed the Inter-
the children locate Australia.              much like to do.                       national Dateline, which means
Follow this by getting out a large            Now move all the way south           we are one day ahead of you.
map of Australia - a country                on your map of Australia, and          But we also lost 10 hours in our
and continent as large in area as           you will see the city of               flight, which means that right
the U.S. Then locate the prov-              Melbourne, on the south coast of       now our 7 o'clock on Saturday
ince, or state, of Queensland               Victoria province. From                morning is 5 o'clock on Friday
and the large city of Brisbane.             Melbourne move straight south          afternoon in Michigan. After a
                                            about 250 miles, and you will be       while, when we change to fast
                                            on the north coast of the island       time and you change back to
                                                                                   slow time, there will be a 12-hour
Prof. Hoeksema is professor of Dogmatics    province of Tasmania. The city of
and Old Testament in the Protestant Re-     Burnie (around 23,000 popula-          difference.
Formed Seminary.                            tion) is located toward the

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  / 39


   The skies are different, too. In    at the time of our Easter camp. I     desk and chair, bookshelves, and
daytime the sun rises in the           can assure you of a friendly          computer. We live high up on
northeast and sets in the north-       reception and of an enjoyable         the bluffs overlooking Bass Strait
west. At night the Southern Cross      stay and interesting sightseeing.     (which we can see from our kit-
is the outstanding feature of the      If you need confirmation of this,     chen window and our back yard).
skies here in the Southern Hemi-       just ask the three young ladies       The kitchen cupboards and
sphere.                                from Hope (Walker) Church who         refrigerator were completely
  The seasons, of course, are the      recently visited here and who         stocked with food when we ar-
opposite of those in the north.        were escorted all over the island     rived. And if we so much as
When we arrived, it was winter,        by, shall I say, personal tour        mention a need or a wish or
comparable to February at home.        guides. Thus far we have been         something we have in America
And now it is spring (they date        kept so busy here that we have        that we do not have here, within
spring here from September 1).         not yet had time for much sight-      a day that need or wish is filled.
You might expect it would be           seeing; but, especially when sum-     The people are overwhelming us
very cold and raw. But when we         mer arrives, we hope to have          with kindness and care and are
arrived, it was very spring-like.      some free time to see some of         determined that we shall not be
Daffodils and magnolias were in        the beauty spots along both the       homesick. In a word, we feel we
full bloom. Other shrubs and           east and the west coasts of the       are among friends and fellow
flowers and trees were and are         island.                               saints. Central heat is a rarity
also blossoming. Many of these           There are many other differ-        here. We heat by means of a
are strange and new to us. In our      ences. Grocery shopping is differ-    wood-burning fireplace which is
yard here on Bird Street, for ex-      ent - with different terminology      equipped with a blower, and by
ample, we have flowers, shrubs,        for many items. Meat cuts are dif-    means of portable electric
and trees such as the following:       ferent (try "scotch fillet" for a     heaters in other rooms. One of
Protea, Christmas Rose, Azalea,        ribeye steak). The money is dif-      my chores is to keep the wood-
Camellia (pink & red), Bottle          ferent. Prices are different -        burner going and to fill the
Brush, Ornamental Black Currant        very high! Driving is different -     wood-box daily; I am learning
(which attracts numerous little        lefthand drive. And do you think      the art of keeping the fire alive
birds called "honey eaters"),          Australians (especially Tasman-       all night, so that I need not start
Daphne, Fuschia, Pelagoniums,          ians) talk English? Guess again! I    a new fire every morning.
and Passion Fruit.                     don't know how many times I             A couple blocks away from our
  The landscape is different, too.     have had to say, "What did you        home is the little church building
Tasmania is a beautiful country        say?" or "What does that mean?"       of the Burnie E.P.C., which they
of rolling hills, green paddocks       We tease one another constantly       purchased a few years ago. In-
(pastures), low mountains (some-       about our language differences.       cidentally, Burnie is like the
what similar to our                    The problem is not only one of a      Biblical "city on a hill" that can-
Appalachians), rugged bush-lands       different accent, but also one of     not be hid. Almost all of the
(forests), and rushing mountain        terminology and vocabulary. For-      residential area is high up on the
streams. The second Saturday           tunately, however, they seem to       bluffs, while the business and in-
after our arrival, we went for a       be able to understand our             dustrial and harbor areas are in
picnic some 50 miles from Burnie       American accent better than we        the narrow strip of land along
into the bush. Part of the purpose     can catch their Tasmanian ac-         the coast.
of the picnic (which involved          cent. My barber told me the             So much for our circumstances
both Burnie and Launceston             other day that it would take 20       and lifestyle.
people) was to investigate the         years to pick up a real Tasma-          Our church life, except for the
facilities of a camp at the site,      nian accent!                          fact that we sing a capella and
with a view to an Easter-time            The congregation has furnished      from the Scottish "Psalms in
"family camp" for all the              us a very comfortable little          Metre," is much like that at
Tasmania churches at which I           bungalow and have done their          home. I am suddenly back in the
have been asked to speak. In this      utmost to see that our every          pastoral ministry, and I am enjoy-
connection, by the way, I was          need and desire are met. We           ing it. We have services at 10
asked by the young people here         have a lounge (livingroom), kit-      A.M. and 2 P.M. On Wednesday
to extend a special invitation to      chen and dinette, bedroom, bath       evening I have a Juniors Cate-
our Protestant Reformed young          and toilet (separate rooms in         chism Class in the Shorter Cate-
people to spend their holiday          Australia), and well-furnished of-    chism. On Thursday evening
(vacation) in beautiful Tasmania       fice, complete with a brand new       there is a Seniors Class (16 yrs.


40  I The Standard Bearer


          and up) which is studying the                 gregation is hungry for soundly                   that trip, thus giving me some
          Westminster Confession. On Fri-               Reformed and exegetical                           chance to relax on the way. By
          day night we have Adult Bible                 preaching and instruction; and                    the time we arrive home around
I         Study in which we have begun                  that means all - old and young.                   11 o'clock we have had a full
          studying the book of Judges.                  The young.people  were asking                     day. But Launceston is very ap-
          We're also going to have a Ques-              for catechism instruction already                 preciative of the fact that their
          tion Hour once per month at the               the week after our arrival. I also                pulpit is filled with lively preach-
          Adult Bible Study. Mrs.                       must mention that the people are                  ing instead of tape recordings.
          Hoeksema is giving the little                 extremely happy and thankful to                      I had intended to write about
          children some New Testament in-               you, our Protestant Reformed                      the visit of Prof. Hanko and me
          struction while we have Adult Bi-             Churches, for sending me to                       to the E.P.C. Synod. But that had
          ble Study. On Wednesday eve-                  them. Already, as I write this,                   better wait for a later letter and
          ning a Ladies Bible Study is                  one-tenth of our time here has                    until we have first made our
          planned, and they will meet at                passed; but they do not even                      report to the Contact Committee.
          the Manse while I am teaching                 want to think of that.                               Please remember us and the
          catechism at the church.                         Sundays are busy days for me.                  churches here in your prayers,
             I preach as I do at home. Only             Except for our first Sunday here                  even as we remember you.
          now I can engage in some series               and for the one Sunday when                          With love in the Lord Jesus
          preaching. I have begun a series,             Prof. Hanko preached there, I                     Christ, Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema.
          in the morning services, on Isaiah            have also travelled the one hun-                  P.S.: Our address is: 59 Bird St.,
          40ff., and plan to get as far as I            dred miles to Launceston to                       Montello, Burnie, Tasmania,
          can in that section during this               preach there at a 6:30 PM ser-                    Australia 7320. Or phone us at:
          year. In the afternoon I am                   vice. So far some of the young                    (004) 31 l-695. 0
          preaching from II Peter. The con-             men have been my chauffeurs for





                                                        There Are Movies-
          All Around Us                                 and 
          Rev. Cise ]. VanBaren                                            Movies

             Movie attendance was, once,                young is being heard. In the                      movie they had seen, usually on video. I
          forbidden to church members.                  Calvinist Contact,  December 11,                  am appalled, First of all, by what they
          But after the advent of television,           1987, an article by Henry Knoop,                  consider to be "harmless" entertainment.
          cable, and now, V.C.R.`s, there                                                                 Texas Chainsaw Massacre 
                                                        teacher at Durham Christian High                                              is tame stuff
                                                                                                          compared to some other movies often
          appears to be no restriction upon             School in Bowmanville, Ontario,                   viewed. "Jason of Halloween Fame is
          this activity anymore. In fact,               appears in the "Media Scan"                       alive and well, not only in movie theatres
          even the most conservative of                 rubric. He writes "Of roller                      where he and his deranged colleagues
          church papers frequently will                 coasters and horror movies":                      rake in thousands of dollars exploiting a
          carry movie reviews. Still, a con-              . . .                                           teenage market thrilled with his exploits,
                                                                   My (almost) middle-aged sensibility    but also in grade schools and high
          cern about the kind of movies                 now tells me that roller coasters are but         schools around the country.
          which entertain especially the                a cheap thrill, perhaps fun to ride on oc-          "It's just a big laugh!" is the common
                                                        casion, but nothing I would go out of my          response I get to my query on why
                                                        way or pay a lot of money For. Why this           teenagers like to watch horror movies.
                                                        discourse on roller coasters?                     "You don't take it seriously!"
          Rev. VanBaren  is pastor of the Protestant      For a while now I have listened to                "But I take it seriously, " I respond.
          Reformed Church of Hudsonville,               teenagers as they highlighted again and           "How can you enjoy watching someone
          Michigan.                                     again the gruesome details of a horror            get mutilated on screen? Aren't you

                                                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  /  41
     I


 celebrating crime and violence?"                 many others with him), recog-              approving limited movie atten-
   Oh, that. That's so phony. Everyone            nizes that the battle against all          dance, there ought to be shock at
 knows no one really gets killed or               these evils was essentially lost           the fact that youth in the church
 maimed. Watching a horror movie is like
 taking a roller coaster ride. It's the thrill    when the churches accepted the             are revelling in the filth which is
 of getting scared!"                              movie and drama as "film art."             flowing forth.
   The thrill of getting scared. I had to         The "Pandora's Box" was                       One can see, too, the effect of
 think about that one for a while. Was I          opened. Should any be surprised            "common grace" when, in the
getting so old that I couldn't remember           at the results? Was not the battle         third point, a "good" is recog-
my desire For "thrills?" Were kids today
different than when I grew up? Was this           lost even earlier - when                   nized among the reprobate which
something unnatural? Was this                     churches adopted a certain "com-           is presumed to be the "fruit of
something unhealthy?                              mon grace" according to which              the Spirit." Having found some of
   Kids today are, of course, no different        the unregenerate wicked were               this "good" in the "film arts," the
than when I was young, and there is               presumed to be able to do some             church has been "introduced" to
nothing unnatural or unhealthy about
adolescents wanting to "test their limits,"       good also in the realm of "film            the worldliness of the wicked.
to determine just how much they can               arts" and the "dance"? But now             But where does the work of the
take. In that regard, I think every               there is "film art." And "art"             Spirit end, and the work of the
teenager should be riding roller coasters.        must be realistic. There must be           devil begin? Can not the young
   Yet having said that, the avenue in            some measure, usually, of                  point correctly to their elders and
which kids are testing their limits, in the
Form of popular horror movies today, is           violence. There is often cursing,          claim that they watch but a
undoubtedly unhealthy and a cause For             using God's Name in vain. In               milder form of the same corrup-
concern. Most of the current offerings in         order, to portray even the "good"          tions which thrill the young?
this genre are little more than exploita-         there must be presented as                    It is true too that those who
tion Films trivializing serious                   realistically as possible the "evil."      have been introduced to a
psychological disorders and social prob-
lems of our society Their graphic depic-          Several questions must be                  limited amount of violence, curs-
tion of violence and brutality glorifies an       answered. Where is to be drawn             ing, adultery, and blasphemy,
abnormal response to life's frustrations.         the line between "art" and that            soon see no wrong in watchirrg
In addition, many horror films do more            which has no "redeeming value"?            more of the same. Soon one
than a little dabbling in the dangerous           What one calls "art," another              seeks greater excitement: more
world of the occult. . . .
   . . . The result, however, is anything         calls "pornographic." But there is         violence, sexual deviations, curs-
but healthy. Through constant exposure            also the real problem that could           ing.
to horror, an audience becomes desensi-           be called a "development" in sin.            And: what of ourselves? What
tized to it. Instead of increasing our con-       Having gained permission to at-            is being watched on TV, cable
cern and emotion for the victims of these         tend the movies (at the theatre or         TV, and V.C.R.`s in our own
crimes, we become deadened to the
plight of others and thank God that               at home on TV), one soon                   homes? How many believe they
nothing happened to us. Or we laugh, as           becomes bored with the                     have the Christian "liberty" to at-
teenagers do, perhaps to cover up our             tameness of the presentations.             tend the movies? Disturbing
real emotions; but probably more often            There is increasing desire for             reports are sometimes repeated.
because we don't know, and aren't                 something more, something with             One would hope and pray these
taught, how to deal with what we are
seeing. Horror movies are but another             greater excitement and thrill. It is       are untrue. We who deny the
manifestation of an individualistic, me-          almost as though one would say,            theory of common grace, we who
centered society.                                 "It's all right to eat a little poison,    are preaching and teaching
   What about "catharsis," the view that          but you must understand the                against the worldliness of the
horror movies provide an outlet for our           limits." Or, perhaps more to the           movie and dance, must practice
pent-up emotions, thus "purging" the au-
dience of any violent tendencies? "`Better        point, it's like trying drugs: one         what we "preach." Christian
on the screen than on the street" is the          will restrict himself to occasional        "liberty" does not allow for this
rationale. Won't audience members just            usage - but soon finds himself             corruption. Where there is sin in
express their innate "violence" in other          addicted to it. He requires more           this regard, there is the call to
Forms if you remove this one?                     and more to satisfy that craving           repentance. He who loves the
  But where, in this view, is the Christian
struggle with sin and battling the "old           within him.                                Lord is to hate all evil. How can
nature, " as scripture talks of it? Is it not       One can agree with the above             one have fellowship with light
just another indication of our self-              writer that the growing attraction         while rejoicing in darkness?
centeredness, our giving in to our sinful         to horror, to violent, occult              Those who want the world and
nature?. . .                                      movies, also by those within the           the church can find many
   Many of the expressions of                     church, is a cause of great con-           churches willing to accommodate
great concern are very much to                    cern. Yet one might ask whether,           to this. May we rather as
the point. One wonders, how-                      having opened the floodgates in            churches be examples of godly
ever, whether the writer (and                                                                profession and a holy walk. Cl

12  / The Standard Bearer


 The Lord Provides for Our Seminary-





 Rev. Engelsma stands, for the last time, behind "his"                         Installation: Prof. Decker preaches the sermon . . . .
 pulpit in South Holland.

         "i             ;     :     -.--     _*_     j     I          *fl-*
                                               ".               /     ;





 .  .  . Rev. VanBaren  reads the form . . . .                                 .  .  . Prof. Engelsma receives congratulations.





Our new professor confers with his friend, the rector . . .                    .  .  . and tries out a desk in the faculty room.




                                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer  /  43


                                              Judges  - Jehovah
 Bible Study                                  Delivers  His U  nworthy
 Guide
 Rev. jason L. Kortering                      `eople  (1)

   As we begin our study of the               Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and            and Bethel in Mount Ephraim;
book of Judges, we should bear                Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and          and the children of Israel came
in mind that the events that are              Samson. Besides these, five more      up to her for judgment." Subse-
recorded in this book follow                  are mentioned as having judged        quently, she and Barak led Israel
historically upon those that we               Israel: Tolah, Jair, Ibzan, Elon,     in victory over Sisera and Jabin,
examined in the book of Joshua.               and Abdon. We usually add Eli         the Canaanitish king.
The Lord raised up Joshua as a                and Samuel to this list, and          THE TIME COVERED IN THIS
leader who guided the people of               though not designated as such in      HISTORY
Israel in their conquest of the land          this book, they are mentioned in        Generally, we say that the
of Canaan and in their assuming               I Samuel 4:18 and 7:15.               period of the judges spanned ap-
their places given to each tribe                Why were these leaders called       proximately 400 years, from the
by the casting of lots. The ques-             judges? Examining the contents        death of Joshua until the time of
tion arises: what happened to                 of the book itself and considering    Samuel and Saul.
these people after Joshua died?               the period of history covered in        If we examine the internal
The answer is given to us in this             this book, we learn that it was       evidence of the book itself, we
book called The Judges.                       for two reasons. First, they pro-     can list the years mentioned in
THE NAME OF THIS BOOK                         cured justice and right for the       which Israel suffered under the
   The Hebrew title of this book              people by delivering them from        oppression of the enemies. These
is  Shophetim,  the Septuagint has            their enemies. Secondly, they ad-     total 111 years. If we add to this
the Greek word Kritai, and the                ministered justice and right by       the number of years mentioned
Latin Vulgate has Judicum, all                executing the laws that God had       in which the judges ruled, or
translated by Judges. The name                given them through Moses and          there was rest from the enemies,
of the book then reflects upon                Joshua. Mention is made of this       these total 299 years, giving us a
those whom God has called to                  type of leadership in                 total of 410 years. This might
deal with Israel during the period            Deuteronomy 17:9: "And thou           seem to be too large a number in
following the death of Joshua. No             shalt come unto the priests, the      light of other evidences. For ex-
one leader was given to Israel to             Levites, and unto the judge that      ample, in I Kings 6:l the fourth
replace Joshua. Rather, during                shall be in those days, and in-       year of Solomon's reign is men-
the course of time, some fourteen             quire; and they shall show thee       tioned as being 480 years after
leaders were called by God to                 the sentence of judgment." There      the Exodus. Unger, in his In-
meet the needs of His people.                 is a similar reference in             troduction to the Old Testament,
Eight of these judges are men-                Deuteronomy 19: 17. An example        suggests that if we allow forty
tioned in this book as performing             of this activity, drawn from the      years for the wilderness stay,
acts of deliverance: Othniel,                 book of Judges, is mentioned in       twenty-five for Joshua in
                                              chapter 4:4, 5: "And Deborah, a       Palestine, forty years for Eli,
                                              prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth,     possibly forty years for both
                                              she judged Israel at this time.       Samuel and Saul, and forty years
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant    And she dwelt under the palm          for David, plus the four years for
Reformed Church of Grandville,
Michigan.                                     tree of Deborah, between Ramah        Solomon, we have a total of 189

44  / The Standard  Bearer


years, which, if subtracted from               archy when its blessings were Fresh in             Rather, we should understand
the 480 years mentioned as                     mind.                                           that the centuries which are here
covering the entire period from                   The latter reference is to the               designated as the period of the
Exodus to Solomon's fourth,                    repeated mention that there was                 judges, form a transition between
leaves us with a total of oniy 291             no king in Israel and everyone                  the entrance of Israel into Ca-
years. This also is confirmed by               did what was right in his own                   naan and the time in which it
Judges 11:26, where the time                   eyes. It is suggested that the                  was established as a nation.
from Israel's sojourn at Heshbon               author wrote this history looking               Nothing new takes place in the
(a year or two before the en-                  back at the former period during                development of Israel as a na-
trance into Canaan) to the second              which there was no king, but                    tion.
year of Jephthan's judgeship is                that now they had one and the                      If we view this period of time
said to be 300 years. If we add to             benefits were just being ap-                    in this light, we can understand
that the 144 years from Jephthah               preciated. Keil and Delitzsch go                that God did speak to Israel in a
to Solomon's fourth year, we                   in the same direction in their                  powerful way and we do well to
have a total of 482 years, which               commentary on Judges:                           listen to that speech. Keil and
closely approximates the 480                     Consequently, the book was written            Delitzsch express it this way:
years of I Kings 6: 1. The explana-            before this event (Jerusalem was taken            The whole book, however, is pervaded
                                               away from the Jebusites 1:21), either dur-
tion of the actual length of about                                                             and ruled by the idea distinctly expressed
                                               ing the first seven years of the reign of
300 years, over against the 400                                                                in the introduction (chap. 2:1-3, 1 l-22),
                                               David at Hebron, or during the reign of         that the Lord left those Canaanites who
compiled by adding the numbers                 Saul, under whom the Israelites already         had not been exterminated by Joshua
in the book of Judges, is the fact             enjoyed the benefits of a monarchical           still in the land, to prove to Israel
that some of the years over-                   government, since Saul not only fought          through them whether it would obey His
lapped, or to put it differently,              with bravery against all the enemies of         commandments, and that He chastised
                                               Israel, and "delivered Israel out of the
the judges ruled synchronously:                                                                and punished His people through them
                                               hands of them that spoiled them" I Sam.         for their disobedience and idolatry; but
e.g., Jephthah and Samson.                     14:47, 48, but exerted himself to restore       that as soon as they recognized His
AUTHOR AND DATE                                the authority of the law of God in his          chastening hand in the punishment, and
   The attempt to determine the                kingdom as is evident from the fact that        returned to Him with penitence and im-
                                               he banished the wizards and
author is closely connected with                                                               plored His help, He had compassion
                                               necromancers out of the land, I Sam.
the effort to fix the date at which                                                            upon them again in His gracious love,
                                               28:9. The talmudical statement therefore        and helped them to victory over their
the book was written.                          in Bava-bathra,  to the effect that Samuel      foes, so that notwithstanding the repeated
   As usual, we will not burden                was the author of the book, may be so           acts of faithlessness on the part of His
ourselves with the position of                 Far correct, that if it was not written by      people, the Lord remained ever faithful
higher criticism, which suggests               Samuel himself towards the close of his         in His deeds, and steadfastly maintained
                                               life, it was written at his instigation by a
that three different sources wrote                                                             His covenant.
                                               younger prophet of his school.
the book and that it was con-                     From the above we conclude                      The double message is set
cluded at a much later period of               that the book may well have                     forth. Israel was not able to serve
history, about 100 B.C. If nothing             been written about the time of                  Jehovah in their own strength;
else, its basic unity defies such an           Saul, 1020 B.C. or thereabout.                  they were no better than the
artificial breaking up of the book.            The author could have been                      heathen. Jehovah maintained His
   Rather, let us examine some of              Samuel, though this cannot be                   covenant and led them through
the internal evidence to see if                established with finality. His                  repentance and forgiveness to
that sheds light on the time of                source of information may have                  serve Him. Thus they are made
writing. Edward J. Young has the               been both oral tradition and writ-              ready for the true theocracy in
following:                                     ten material, seeing that the                   which He is their God and we
                                                                                               are made ready for the Kingdom
  According to 1:21, the Jebusites were        period of time covers centuries of
still in Jerusalem when the book was           history.                                        of Heaven. 0
written. Hence, the book must have been        THE MESSAGE OF THE BOOK
edited before the events recorded in II
Samuel 5:6fF (David's capture of the city).       As we approach this book for
It is said in I:29 that the Canaanites         study, we should be careful that
dwelt in Gezer, which points to a time         we do not view it as a historical
before Pharaoh gave the city to Solomon        account of a given period of
(I Kings 9:16), In 3:3, Sidon rather than      history. If we should do this, we
Tyre is the chief Phoenician city. This
points to a time before the twelfth cen-       will be much disappointed and
tury. Isaiah 9 refers to Judges 4:5, 6, and    certainly fail to understand the
passages such as 17:6, 18:1, and 21:25         message contained in it.
seem to imply a time in the early mon-


                                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer / 45


Rev. Ronald H. Hanko                      Report of Classis West

   The Loveland Protestant Re-              Reports were received from            The Classis approved an over-
formed Church of Loveland, Col-           the Classical Committee, the          ture of South Holland to Synod,
orado was host for the September          Reading Sermon Committee, and         1989, requesting that Synod
7, 1988 meeting of Classis West.          the Stated Clerk.                     cease the practice of reading
Though Classis has met in Love-             Classical Appointments were         aloud its agenda.
land numerous times before, this          granted to Isabel and South             Two overtures to Synod from
was the first time that Classis had       Holland according to the follow-      the Lynden Consistory were
the opportunity to meet in Love-          ing schedule: Isabel, Oct. 2, 9       received. The first requested two
land's new sanctuary, and for             -Dykstra; Oct. 23, 30 - Terpstra;     changes in the Form for Ordina-
many delegates this was the first         Nov. 13, 20 - Koole; Dec. 11, 18 -    tion of Elders and Deacons.
time they had the opportunity to          Houck; Jan. 1, 8 - R. Hanko; Jan.     Classis gave its approval for one
see this new facility.                    22, 29 - Van Overloop; Feb. 12,       change and disapproved of the
   Twelve ministers and thirteen          19 - Haak; Mar. 5, 12 - De Vries;     other. The second overture re-
elders represented the thirteen           South Holland, Sept. 18, 25 -         quested a change in the Form for
churches of Classis at this               Cammenga; Oct. 16, 23 - Moore;        Public Confession of Faith. Classis
meeting. In addition three                Nov. 13, 20 - Haak; Dec. 11, 18 -     also disapproved of this change.
delegates from Classis East were          De Vries; Jan. 8, 15 - Kuiper;          An appeal from a brother
present, Revs. W. Bekkering, J.           Feb. 12, 19 - den Hartog; Mar. 5,     against a decision of his Con-
Kortering, and J. Slopsema.               12 - T. Miersma. A proposal from      sistory forbidding him to home-
These three were given the                Edmonton was also adopted that        school his children was rejected
privilege of advisory vote at the         classical appointments be             by Classis.
meeting.                                  scheduled through the end of the        Classis expressed both its ap-
   Rev. R. Cammenga led the               month in which the next Classis       preciation to Prof. D. Engelsma,
Classis in opening devotions and          meets.                                for his many years of work in
spoke to the delegates on                   The most enjoyable part of          Classis West, and its desire that
Numbers 20:1-13. Rev. A. den              Classis' work was that of receiv-     God would bless him in his new
Hartog was the President of               ing and granting the request of       field of labor in our Theological
Classis, Rev. M. De Vries, vice-          the South Holland congregation        School.
President, and Rev. R. Cam-               for the organization of a new           Classis finished its work
menga was clerk.                          congregation in Lynwood, Il-          Wednesday evening. The total
   Three delegates were present           linois. Twenty-four families and      expenses of the Classis were
at Classis West for the first time        six individuals from the South        $7,732.24.  The next meeting of
and signed the Formula of                 Holland congregation requested        Classis West is scheduled for
Subscription. They were Rev. R.           this organization and Classis,        March 1, 1989 at South Holland
Van Overloop, Elder J. Heys               with the concurrence of the dele-     Prot. Ref. Church.
(Loveland), and Elder H. Bleyen-          gates from Classis East, advised                 Rev. Ronald Hanko,
berg (Doon).                              South Holland to proceed with                      Stated Clerk
                                          this matter. Rev. R. Van                         Classis West 0
                                          Overloop was appointed their
                                          moderator and was also ap-
Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant    pointed moderator of South
Reformed Church of Houston, Texas.        Holland during their vacancy.

46  / The Standard Bearer


                                            News From
 Mr. Benjamin. Wigger                       Our Churches

                      October 15, 1988      CONGREGATION HIGHLIGHTS                series of nine sermons on Daniel
MINISTERIAL CALLS                             The congregation of our              1-6. Although there is no mention
   Our Holland, Michigan con-               church in Byron Center,                of making these tapes available
gregation has called Rev. W.                Michigan held their first worship      to those outside of Southeast
Bruinsma, from a trio which in-             service in their new building on       Church, I can't help but believe
cluded also the Revs. S. Key and            August 14. The Lord willing, in        that if you wrote the church at
B. Gritters.                                our next news column I will have       1535 Cambridge Ave. S.E. in
   Prof. Decker has declined the            some details about the dedica-         Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
call extended to him from Faith             tions of our Byron Center and          you could arrange to purchase a
Church in Jenison, Michigan.                Southwest Churches, scheduled          set. Cost: estimated somewhere
MISSION ACTIVITIES                          for September 16 and 23, respec-       between  $15-$20.
   During the first week of                 tively.                                  We extend our congratulations
September Rev. and Mrs. Bernard               We also want to extend our           to Rev. and Mrs. C. Haak of
Woudenberg of Kalamazoo,                    congratulations to the congrega-       Lynden, Washington on the birth
Michigan, along with Dr. and                tion in Pella, Iowa which              of their third daughter, Melanie
Mrs. Dwight Monsma of Grand                 celebrated its 60th anniversary        Jane, on August 25, and to Rev.
Rapids, Michigan traveled                   on September 16th.                     and Mrs. B. Gritters of Byron
through the area of Maryland                  August 30 the children of our        Center, Michigan on the birth of
and Virginia on behalf of the Mis-          First Church in Grand Rapids,          their fifth son, Bradley Scott,
sion Committee, contacting a                Michigan who were entering the         born on September 6.
number of people who have ex-               second grade through the ninth         CHURCH ACTIVITIES
pressed interest in our churches.           grade were invited to spend a            September 13 an Officebearers'
   The Synodical Committee for              day at Pleasure Island Water           Conference was held at our
Contact with Other Churches re-             Park in Muskegon, Michigan.            Byron Center Church. Rev. C.
quested that the consistory of our          Refreshments, supper, and an all-      Hanko introduced the subject
Southwest Church in Grandville,             day pass were furnished. Having        "Practical Help for Elders on
Michigan, along with the con-               seen the effects of an entire day      Family Visitation." A question
sistory of our South Holland                at a water park on children and        period followed this informative
Church, send their pastors, Rev.            adults alike, I dare say that there    speech.
Kamps and Rev. Engelsma, to                 must have been some tired                A Men's and Ladies' League
Larne, North Ireland on behalf of           people riding home that night.         meeting was also held on
the Protestant Reformed                       Sunday evening, September 18,        September 13 at our Holland
Churches, for the work of the               the congregation of Randolph           Church. Rev. M. Joostens spoke
ministry of the Word.                       Church held a special Singspira-       on "Temptations in our Affluent
   Rev. Kamps and his wife left a           tion at which some good psalter        Society."
week early for a vacation in                singing was combined with a few          On September 6 at 7:00 PM,
England before they were                    special numbers especially             the night before Classis West met
scheduled to meet Rev. Engelsma             chosen to feature their new            in our Loveland Church in Col-
in Larne on September 2. They               organ.                                 orado, the congregation of Love-
were scheduled to be in Larne                 The Evangelism Society of our        land was invited to an hour of
September 3-l 1 and were to                 Southeast Church is going to pro-      fun and fellowship in the gym of
return home on September 12.                mote an attractively-boxed set of      the Bill Reed Jr. High School.
                                            cassette tapes of their pastor's       This night was intended to pro-
                                                                                   vide an opportunity to meet the
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant                                           delegates of the Classis.
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,
Michigan.

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer / 47


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SlANDW                            ; --                                                                                                  SECOND CLASS
Bl3lRER                          .:                                                                                                     Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan

F10.  Box 6064                                                                               --~
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Grand Rapids, MI 49506



  And, speaking of Classis,                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Classis East met on September 14               On October 28, 1988, our                            On September  27,1988, our
for the first time in the new               parents and grandparents, MR.                    beloved parents and grand-
church building of our Byron                AND MRS. MICHAEL VAN                             parents, MR. AND MRS.
Center Church.                              BAREN celebrate 40 years of                      LAWRENCE NELSON, cele-
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES                           marriage.                                        brated their 35th wedding an-
   September 23 was the ten-                   We are thankful to our                        niversary.
tative date set for an all-day, all-        Heavenly Father for giving us                          We rejoice with them on this
school picnic for students,                 Cod-fearing parents and for the                  happy occasion and are grateful
teachers, and parents of Adams,             love and instruction they have                   to Cod for their covenantal love
Street Christian School in Grand            given us.                                        and instruction. We pray that
Rapids, Michigan. The picnic was               We are thankful for their                     the Lord will continue to bless
to be held at Douglas Walker                years together and pray the                      them and keep them in His
Park in Byron Center.                       Lord will continue to bless them                 care.
   The Heritage Christian School            in years to come.                                       "Happy is he that hath the
Fundraisers sponsored their an-                "Instructing our sons we glad-                God of Jacob for his help,
nual Salad/BBQ Supper at our                ly record The praises, the works,                whose hope is in the Lord his
Hudsonville Church the night of             the might of the Lord, For he                    Cod: The Lord shall reign
September 16.                               has commanded that what he                       forever, even thy God, 0 Zion,
   August 21 the Covenant Alum-             has done Be passed in tradition                  unto all generations. Praise ye
ni Chamber Choir presented a                from father to son." (Psalter No.                the Lord." (Psalm  146:5, IO)
concert at our First Church in              213:2)                                           Rick and Sharon Tolsma
Grand Rapids, Michigan. q                   Bob and Jan Koontz                                    Kimberly, Jennifer, Michelle, and
                                              Rob. Shannon.  Tracv. and Kris                             Stephanie
                                            John  and Alice  Dykshirn                        Dan and Diana Lanting
                                              Alan, Brandy, Josh, Miki, and I'ow                  Melissa, Aaron and Keith
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                         Frank and Sharon Van  Baren                      Stephen Nelson
   On October 18, 1988, our                   Frank Jr., Melanie, Katie, and I'ennie
parents and grandparents, MR.               Mike and Char Van  Baren
                                            Mark Van  Baren
AND MRS. ROGER KING will
celebrate their 25th wedding an-            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATIHY
niversary.                                     The members of the Martha
   We are thankful to our                   Ladies' Aid Society of the Hull
Heavenly Father for the years of            Protestant Reformed Church ex-                   lid Imild,  ~~@"r.  ,919 Ikl/,(ll. <iili"b ib.MI ells
covenantal instruction, love and                                                             k", ,R"Lni u. "rrki,. I,,3 Ch..lk Of.,  ,"""".MI `WB
                                            tends its Christian sympathy to             ~~
care which they have given us.              Mrs. John Boer and her family
We pray that God will continue              in the death of her husband                 I                                                                                        I
to bless and keep them in His               JOHN BOER.
care.                                          "I will lift up mine eyes unto
   "For the Lord is good; his               the hills, from whence cometh
mercy is everlasting; and his               my help. My help cometh from
truth endureth to all genera-               the Lord, which made  heaven
tions." (Psalm 100:5)                       and earth." (Psalm  121:1-2)
Lou and Cheryl Regnerus                     Rev. R. Moore, President
  Luke and Jade                             Jane  Hoksbergen, Sec'y.
Marcia King
Michael King                                                                                    I  s. I" I,_ U..b"..                                   D                   0
                                                                                             --
Lorraine King                                                                                r .o/.,.- .,,.,, dl..YC"P".h.eII                ,        urn                 1.m
                                                                                             " I  r,ni*  Ih.l  Ib  *w.m`"l*  MdS  I,    y-y:"
                                                                                                                                                       -y
                                                                                                                                                               "
                                                                                                                                                              --y- ---
David King                                                                                      1/o hn"* "I <em/, ."d mmw.                                          ,,                II


48  1 The Standard  Bearer


